Forget Robocalls. The Obama campaign is spending thousands on Robo-texting to reach the Latino vote.

In Florida, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is airing campaign commercials in Spanish telling Hispanics he’s “one of us.” In South Carolina, he is touting the endorsement of Kris Kobach, an anti- immigration activist.

Polls show Hispanic voters, two-thirds of whom backed Obama in 2008, still favor the president, but GOP strategists believe that winning 40 percent of that vote could disrupt Obama’s electoral college strategy by putting Colorado, Arizona and Nevada in the Republican column.

Steve Schmidt who headed Republican John McCain’s campaign in 2008 says it was a “big mistake’’ for the majority of the Republican presidential field to boycott a Univision debate set for January.

After a huge GOP media blitz aimed at Hispanic voters, one Republican presidential contender is officially going after the Latino vote in the 2012 race. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman has appointed Ana Navarro to the position of National Hispanic Chairperson of his campaign.

On the surface, the new Republican plan to reach out to Latino voters sounds nice. Specifically, the project includes provisions to look for at least 100 Latinos who would be willing to run for seats in state legislatures across the United States.

President Barack Obama makes a rare presidential visit to Puerto Rico on Tuesday, spending about five hours there on a trip aimed as much at Puerto Ricans on the mainland as those on the island.

Republicans have done a “lousy job” of promoting their outreach efforts to Hispanic voters, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Wednesday.